Ramesh leaves the crease for greasepaint

Former India opener S Ramesh is set to appear as the protagonist in his second Tamil movie. Ramesh's character in Patta Patti 50-50 is forced to coach a cricket-obsessed village team for a match to decide which captain wins the hand of a girl they are both interested in.

Ramesh is not the first Indian cricketer enter the movie industry, and follows in the footsteps of Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble, Ajay Jadeja, Sandeep Patil and Vinod Kambli. Ramesh told the Indian Express he found the experience of shooting in a South Indian village interesting. “These guys were like typical Indian fans and kept asking about my former team-mates, mainly Sachin Tendulkar,” said Ramesh, who made an impressive entry into international cricket in 1999 before fizzling out due to injuries and technical shortcomings.

He decided to enter movies after losing his place in the Tamil Nadu team, and played the brother of the protagonist in his first film.

"I wanted to do something I was comfortable doing. And though there aren't many serious romantic scenes in this movie, having to attempt them with 300 random people watching you was intimidating," Ramesh said.